WHEN thinking about Accrington Stanley backers past and present it is hard to ignore the symmetry.

Eric Whalley, the man who helped the Reds return to the Football League, built his family business empire – EW Cartons – in packaging.

Andy Holt, the man who has stepped in to wipe the club’s debt and enhance the club’s infrastructure to the overall tune of around £2million, specialises in ‘organised living’, from cooking to cleaning and recycling, under the umbrella of What More UK.

The PlasticBoxShop, a partner company of Altham-based ‘Wham’, is Stanley’s new shirt sponsors.

At the kit launch in August, Stanley boss John Coleman said: “I personally think the reincarnation of this club was built on boxes with Eric Whalley, God rest his soul, and his cardboard box company.

“That was the start of getting us to where we are now, and hopefully PlasticBoxShop can accelerate our progress.”

Coleman’s hopes certainly look like coming to fruition with the cash injection set to revolutionise – or perhaps rather Red-volutionise – the club.

“Andy is a modern-day Eric Whalley,” said Coleman of the club’s new owner.

“People could love or loathe Eric, and he made a lot of mistakes along the way, but what he did was to do remarkably well with his own business without embracing the modern world.

“He transformed Accrington Stanley with a lot of ambition that people didn’t see at the time.

“People thought he was mad when he said he wanted to get into the Conference, let alone the Football League.

“Eric had a vision and in his own way he did his best to achieve it.

“What we’ve got now is a modern fella who has also made good in his own business and can hopefully take us to that next level that possibly Eric couldn’t.

“The one thing about Accrington is it can be like a drug.

“Andy, by his own admission, isn’t really a football fan, although he’s rapidly becoming one.

“And possibly the players have a lot to be praised for because in the few games he came to in pre-season we were outstanding, and that maybe made him think ‘I’ll have a go at that’.

“I’m pleased that it’s a local guy. He’s got no heirs or graces about him, he’s a lovely fella.”

Asked if the investment would stand the club in better stead for promotion, with the stability that it was able to provide off the field, Coleman added: “We’ve got a good enough squad to push for promotion. But if we did get promotion it’s far better to have it with the stability that you’ve got because you’d be in and out of League One in a blink I’d have thought.”

Coleman feels the most immediate change will be security.

“When you’ve got to go into a group of players, a group of men, some of them are married with children and mortgages, and tell them that they’re not getting paid for two or three weeks.... We’ve always been paid, whether it’s six weeks, eight weeks or 10 weeks later.

“But to not have to do that and to know that everything they’re due they’re going to get paid, will make it a lot easier.”